


Walk With Me

by TheGirlWithBrightEyes



Series: Fragments of Life [6]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Coping, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Snake Crowley (Good Omens), Teasing, Unexpected Kink, leash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 22:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19473850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGirlWithBrightEyes/pseuds/TheGirlWithBrightEyes
Summary: Crowley has never been good at handling too much emotions and he's got a lot of things to digest this time on a more personal level. Aziraphale tries to help.





	Walk With Me

The next few weeks after Armageddon was averted, Crowley - quite understandably, avoided the bookshop. Aziraphale could hardly blame him after all that had happened, the demon had been quite traumatized and needed time to cope with it. Instead, Aziraphale took a cab over to Crowley each day after closing up the shop to keep the demon company.

Crowley ranged from annoyed or restless to apathetic or curled up in a shivering ball of blankets on his bed. Aziraphale didn't know what to expect each time, but he knew, without a doubt that Crowley found the whole processing bit very difficult. It was far from easy to watch him at it though and it broke Aziraphale's heart a little bit at a time every day.

Then some two weeks after their body swap, Aziraphale turned up at Crowley's apartment to find wreckage after one of Crowley's angry outbursts. Plant parts spread across the floor, a cracked glass paperweight and a broken door. Sighing, he repaired them with a touch.

"Crowley?" he called softly, heading over to the bedroom to see if Crowley had retreated back there, but it was empty. So was the bathroom - he'd found him brooding in the bath once. "Crowley, where are you?" he called again, a little louder this time as he walked from room to room.

Nothing.

"Oh for Heaven's sake..."he said exasperatedly, feeling around for Crowley's presence. To his surprise, he did find it - but it was somehow...warped. More feral. That, and hauntingly familiar. It seemed to tug weakly at his memory but he couldn't for the life of him remember when Crowley's presence had felt like this.

Going back to the hall, he went through room for room, checking every cupboard, closet and possible hiding space, but it wasn't until he got back from a full round quite confused when he saw it. Coiled some four or five times around the radiator half hidden by plants lay a large black and copper snake.

Aziraphale blinked. Then blinked again.

"Oh. Oh!" So _this_ was why the presence was familiar but warped... Crowley seemed to have had an outburst and then changed into a snake, found a warm place and stayed there. The last time he had seen this form it had frightened him - but back then he'd not known Crowley at all. 6000 years is a long time to get to know someone and it had been millennia since last Crowley had actually frightened him.

Still, it wasn't every day you saw a snake that was of the formidable size Crowley was. Thick as a man's leg and at least 20 feet long. Aziraphale padded closer and sat down beside the snake, lifting his hand to gently stroke the shiny coils. It felt strange. Warm and sleek with every scale clearly discernable beneath his palm. After a minute or two, Crowley's tongue wisped out to taste the air, his head lifted slightly. It took a while though before he uncoiled from the radiator and moved his head to Aziraphale's lap. As the angel patted him, he changed back into his humanoid form.

"Had a bad day, dear?" Aziraphale said softly, raking his fingers tenderly through Crowley's hair.

"Yeah..."Crowley mumbled into Aziraphale's lap. "Think too much..."

"It's easier to be a snake then?" the angel asked, caressing the skin on Crowley's neck. The demon flipped over to look at him, Aziraphale's fingers moving to his throat. It felt very intimate, almost dangerous, and it of course helped to know the level of trust needed from Crowley's side. He showed no signs of discomfort.

"A bit. Emotions get smaller somehow. More bearable."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Aziraphale asked, and Crowley considered it for a little while, frowning. Then he slowly shook his head.

"Nah...not really. You already know most of it anyway. I just find it hard to..."he sighed irritably. "Let go or something, I suppose. I'm sick and tired of being a pawn in some mysterious game where nobody but God knows the rules and most things you do will fuck you over." Aziraphale didn't know what to say to that, he just nodded quite apologetically. Then, it was as if the anger drained from Crowley and he went limp in Aziraphale's lap. "You taste like dust in a sunlit room, tea and old fabrics."

Aziraphale felt his whole head heat up at this.

"I...taste?" he repeated and Crowley nodded, quite seriously. "Oh...you mean..."he blushed even harder, swallowing. Snakes didn't smell, they tasted. He couldn't help smiling. "That's...the most romantic thing you've ever said." To his surprise, it was Crowley's turn to blush this time.

"W-well, you do," he said almost defensively, looking away from embarrassment.

"Was it a good taste?" Aziraphale said gently, feeling slightly flustered but quite flattered. Crowley's mouth twitched.

"It was comforting," he murmured thoughtfully, turning his amber eyes back on Aziraphale, who combed his hair with his fingers.

"That's good," Aziraphale smiled tenderly. He leant down and placed a very soft kiss on Crowley's forehead, then licked his lips thoughtfully. "You taste...like salt, grass and aged whiskey."

"A good one?" Crowley said quietly, looking quite expectant. Aziraphale chuckled.

"My favourite kind," he smiled, which seemed to satisfy Crowley. He looked happy. "Look... Have you been out of the door at all the past two weeks?" Aziraphale asked, knowing full well the answer was no before Crowley even admitted. "Maybe we should get you outside a little bit. If only just for a small walk around the park."

"Snake, not dog," Crowley corrected him and sat up with some effort. "But yeah, I probably should get out. Take a shower first though, I smell like a terrarium." He made a bit of a face and got up at a lurch, as if it took a bit of time to get used to having legs again. Aziraphale followed him, slightly concerned he'd bump into walls with the way he swayed on his feet. He stopped by the bedroom door though, watching Crowley undress trying not to keel over, though he turned away once the demon was down to his underwear hoping he'd at least be able to sort those out. Aziraphale wandered back to the study, looking briefly at the statues there before continuing out to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea as he waited. He was standing sipping it while studying the statue of the angels as Crowley turned up again, looking slightly more refreshed. He was almost his old swagging self only appearing a bit tired. 

"Better?" Aziraphale asked, raising a questioning eyebrow and Crowley snorted.

"Better. Up to some ogling again?" he said with a smirk, letting his fingers caress the side of the white winged angel's face. Aziraphale went pink and sipped his tea.

"I'm not that kind of pervert," he defended himself, setting up laughter from Crowley.

"So you admit to being some kind of pervert, then!" he said happily, dismissing any of Aziraphale's vain attempts to explain how that wasn't what he'd meant and would Crowley _please_ not misunderstand on purpose. "Come on angel, you've got a demon to walk. You can even have a leash if you're that kind of pervert instead."

"Will you please stop insinuating things!" Aziraphale managed irritably as he followed Crowley downstairs but was only met by laughter. As Crowley put on his shades he couldn't resist also miracling said leash and wiggled it in front of Aziraphale's face, watching the angel get increasingly annoyed and red.

"Oh for Heaven's sake, Crowley! _Fine_!" Aziraphale almost shouted, grabbed the leash and stalked off, more or less dragging the very surprised Crowley with him. They'd gotten all the way down into the street by the time Crowley managed to sort himself out enough to walk beside Aziraphale instead of being pulled off balance.

"I think we'd ought to do some leash training," Crowley mused looking around the street, running his fingers inside the collar. It hadn't exactly hurt, but it hadn't exactly been gentle, either. "Pretty sure dragging someone backwards down stairs isn't good style even with dogs."

"Well you only got yourself to blame," Aziraphale retorted. "The only reason there is a leash at all is..."he trailed off, blushing furiously as he realised people they were passing gaped and stared. Crowley didn't seem even remotely embarrassed though.

"I suppose I do. Never thought you'd actually take the leash, though," he admitted, giving out a strange noise as the collar was tugged slightly at the next turn. "You wanna be careful with that though unless you wanna turn me on," he dropped his voice slightly as Aziraphale was quite aggressively steering him around. Mortified, the angel instantly dropped the leash as if burned and stopped. They stared at each other for a full minute. "No more walking?" Crowley asked innocently and Aziraphale flushed scarlet.

"Are you being serious?" he hissed. "I thought it was just a joke gone too far." Crowley shrugged.

"Well, it was. Took a quite unexpected turn, didn't it? But I kind of like it." He saw Aziraphale swallow, looking anywhere but at him until his eyes finally fell on the offending leash. "Can remove it if you want," Crowley offered and could see the angel considering it. Then, he reached out and took the leash again, this time with less annoyance and more deliberation.

"One lap and then we go home," he said and it was obvious that he could hardly believe himself. "People are staring."

"So let'em," Crowley smiled and Aziraphale gave an irritable sort of grunt.

"I am humouring you," he said, pulling the leash shorter, dragging Crowley down to walking with his back rather more bent than usual.

"Feel free," Crowley hissed expectantly and Aziraphale was true to his word. They took a walk around the park, Aziraphale half dragging him around one lap like a naughty dog and then back to Crowley's home. The demon enjoyed every minute.

Once back inside, Aziraphale proceeded to order him to bend over so he could remove the collar.

"Oh that's goose bumps all over," Crowley groaned with a shudder as the collar came off. "Funny that, finding a new unexpected kink." Of course, that didn't exactly make Aziraphale less embarrassed or less annoyed with him. He had a feeling the angel had played along just to get his mind off things, which it definitely had.

"Well that's you aired, dear," Aziraphale said, trying to compose himself. Then, after a second thought he added: "I-I hope I didn't hurt you."

"Nah, 's fine," Crowley stretched up to full length again, removing his shades. "I don't think you'd deliberately do that, angel. Not even if I asked you to." He sighed, then gave Aziraphale a smile. "Thanks."

"For whatever for?" Aziraphale followed him upstairs again after disposing of leash and collar over by the coat hangers.

"For trying to make me feel better even if I'm being sassy with you," Crowley stopped, looking back down on Aziraphale. The angel gave him a small smile. "I appreciate it."

"Oh, Crowley. It's the least I can do," Aziraphale said softly.


End file.
